A warning has been issued after toxins known as “forever chemicals” have been discovered in popular fruits, vegetables and spices in the UK. Results from the latest Government testing showed that PFA chemicals, which are used in some pesticides, were identified in a range of foods in 2022.
PFAs can accumulate in the bodies of living organisms and have been linked to dangerous health conditions. They can also take centuries to break down.
As reported by The Independent, more than 3,300 samples of food and drink available in the UK were tested for residues of around 400 pesticides.
More than half were found to contain residues of pesticides, although this was below the maximum residue level (MRL) allowed in food by law.
But according to a report from the Environment Department’s advisory committee on pesticide residues (PRiF), 1.8 percent of the samples contained a pesticide residue above this legal level.
Certain foods were found to be more badly affected by PFAs than others.
Analysis of the test results by The Pesticide Action Network UK (Pan UK), found strawberries were hit worst, with 95 percent of 120 test samples containing PFA pesticides.
Of 109 grape samples, 61 percent were affected and 56 percent of 121 cherry samples contained PFAs.
This was followed by 42 percent of 96 spinach samples and 38 percent of 96 tomato samples.
The least affected were peaches, cucumbers, apricots and beans where 15 percent of samples contained PFAs.
The report noted that the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducts a risk assessment of all pesticide residues found in the testing programme and takes further action if risks to health are identified.
“It is useful to note, even when a food contains a residue above the MRL, HSE rarely finds any likely risk to the health of the people who have eaten the food,” it said.
But campaigners still have concerns over the potential risks to public health.
Pan UK said MRLs do not necessarily mean the quantity of pesticide found in the food is safe and do not consider various other forms of potential exposure to PFAs, like plastic food packaging, drinking water and household products.
Nick Mole, from Pan UK, said: “Given the growing body of evidence linking PFAs to serious diseases such as cancer, it is deeply worrying that UK consumers are being left with no choice but to ingest these chemicals, some of which may remain in their bodies long into the future.
“We urgently need to develop a better understanding of the health risks associated with ingesting these ‘forever chemicals’ and do everything we can to exclude them from the food chain.”
Pan UK is therefore calling on the Government to ban the 25 PFA pesticides currently in use in Britain. Of these, six are classified as “highly hazardous”.
“The UK government’s much-delayed plans for limiting the negative impacts of PFAs focus solely on industrial chemicals, ignoring pesticides entirely,” Mr Mole added.
“PFA pesticides are absolutely unnecessary for growing food and are an easily avoidable source of PFA pollution. Getting rid of them would be a massive win for consumers, farmers and the environment.”
Speaking to The Independent, Dr Shubhi Sharma – from Chem Trust, which campaigns to protect humans and animals from harmful chemicals, said: “PFAs are a group of entirely human-made chemicals that didn’t exist on the planet a century ago and have now contaminated every single corner.
“No-one gave their consent to be exposed to these harmful chemicals, we haven’t had the choice to opt out, and now we have to live with this toxic legacy for decades to come.
“The very least we can do is to stop adding to this toxic burden by banning the use of PFAs as a group”.
At the time of publication the Environment Department and HSE had been contacted for comment by The Independent.